Can I make The Carbon Cycle become an Open System?

Can I make The Carbon Cycle become an Open

System?

What is Carbon?Carbon is a nonmetallic element,

which is the foundation for most living organisms

Carbon occurs in all organic compounds (anything with carbon).

All living organisms contain carbon, even as they decay, they will continue to contain it

Coal, limestone, and petroleum, are fossilized forms of living organisms. Plants and animals which died millions of years ago were slowly compressed into these substances (above), and their integral carbon was preserved.

What are Open and Closed Systems?

Open System Closed System

Nutrients are lost and not recycled Nutrients are constantly being recycled

Think of it as a hamster ball or a box. If a hamster ball is closed, the hamster stays in and continuously is moving around in it, however, once the ball is open, the hamster can come out and not return,

What are Allotropes?Allotropes are chemical substances that can exist in two or more

different forms.

Carbon is an allotrope

Graphite Diamond

Amorphous carbon

What is Carbon Cycle?

Carbon is the fourth most abundant element in the universe, and it plays a crucial role in the health and stability of the planet through the carbon

cycle.

The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle (all the nutrient cycles on Earth) by which carbon is exchanged among the biosphere

(Earth), pedosphere (outermost layer of Earth-soil),  geosphere (lithosphere), hydrosphere (water), and atmosphere (air surrounding

Earth) of the Earth. 

Carbon moves from the atmosphere to plants, from plants to animals, plants and animals to the ground, from living things to the atmosphere, from fossil fuels to the atmosphere (when the fuels are burned). from the atmosphere to the oceans

Changes to the Carbon Cycle

Because of human activity, there have been more changes to the carbon cycle.

For example:

The Earth is getting warmer and plants now bloom 8 days earlier than they did 11 years ago,

Birds from the United Kingdom lay their eggs earlier,

In Alaska, North West Canada, and Siberia the temperatures have warmed up as much as 5 degrees Fahrenheit in the last 30 years

How is it our fault?Carbon comes from burning of oil and gas (for heat, transportation industry), cement manufacturing, deforestation and other land uses. No other animal,

except for Humans are capable of things listed above.

Carbon occurs naturally during photosynthesis.

Photosynthesis is the process in which plants and some bacteria use the energy from the sunlight to make sugar,

Photosynthesis Chemical Equation:6H2O + 6CO2 -----> C6H12O6+ 6O2

Orsix molecules of water + six molecules of carbon dioxide= one molecule of sugar + six molecules of oxygen

How I plan to open the Carbon Cycle.

My Experiment

Important:

I’m not really opening the Carbon Cycle, I’m recreating it.

Carbon Dioxide is a greenhouse gas that traps heat in the Atmosphere, without

Carbon Dioxide & The Carbon Cycle, Earth would be frozen and we would all be dead.

HypothesisBecause opening up the carbon

cycle would mean removing one of the most important elements on Earth and decreasing the Earth’s temperature, temperature being important to the inhabitants of Earth because it’s an essential

factor in helping a species regulate their body’s temperature, I believe that the nutrients in my experiment will not be able to recycle back and

the nutrients will disintegrate.

Materials

Charcoal x2 50mL Water Beaker x2 Stove Top Burner

Weighing Scale

Paper/Weigh Boat

Eyes to see with

Notebook and pencil

Experiment Set Up

Closed System Open SystemSafety Steps:

1: Be sure to have protective oven mitts 2: Carefully watch your experiment and as soon as all the water has

evaporated take it off stove3: Make sure the aluminum foil is securely on top of the beaker, also, if

you’re using tape to secure the aluminum foil, don’t put the tape too close to the stove top burner

4: Leave the hot beaker alone after you’ve taken it off the stove top burner so it can cool down.

Step 5: Be careful when you pour your heated water into another beaker

Before recreating Closed System

Data- Closed System

Paper Weight = 0.0grams (I zeroed the scale after putting paper on)Charcoal Weight = 10.3 gramsBeaker Weight =103.4 gramsBeaker Weight + Charcoal = 113.7 gramsAmount of Water added = 50mL

End Results of Closed System

Water recycled from 50mL = 13mLCharcoal left in heated beaker = 104.8 – 103.4 = 1.4 grams

Data- Open SystemBefore recreating Open System End Results of Closed

System

Paper Weight = 0.0grams (again, I zeroed the scale after putting paper on)Charcoal Weight = 7.1 gramsBeaker Weight =103.4 gramsBeaker Weight + Charcoal = 110.5 gramsAmount of Water added = 50mL

Water recycled from 50mL = 5 ½ mLCharcoal left in heated beaker = 107.0 – 103.4 = 3.6 grams

Observations

Open System Observation(s):

* Plastic Tube is melting

* Recycled or saved amount of water looks brown.

Closed System Observation(s):

* Some of the charcoal floats, while some settles to the bottom.

* Steam is rising from the beaker being heated; beaker which is collecting the water is cloudy.

*Recycled or saved amount of water looks grayish with white particles

According to the Data Collected…

My Hypothesis is incorrect!

In both my open and closed systems, some pieces of charcoal were able to recycle!

However, there is a potential source of error, that I’m unsure about. In my open system I believe that because the plastic

tube was melting (the tube was orange-ish/ brown-ish in color) that the melting stuff from the tube is what showed in the

beaker .

The Earth and the Carbon Cycle are both closed systems!

&

Sources of Error

Some sources of error in my experiment happened when I did not follow safety step #5 and accidentally spilled some of my captured water- which could’ve added on to the amount of water I collected).

Another source of error happened when I didn’t follow safety step #3 and failed to secure my beaker tops. As a result a lot of steam/gas was

able to escape (as you can see in the pictures above, the one on the left a little more clearly thanks to Jessica), which affected my data as

well.

Redesigning My Experiment

I don’t think I’d make a lot of changes or an entirely different experiment, I’d just try to limit my sources of error using this same

experiment, so I can better it. In order to limit my sources of error, next time I’ll try to connect the beakers with something stronger and more

secure than aluminum and tape (refer to picture above).

Works Cited/ Bibliography1. Bentor, Yinon. Chemical Element.com- Carbon. Chemicalelements.com. 1996-

2009 .December 5th, 2010.2.Wheeling Jesuit University/Center for Educational Technologies. The Center for

Educational Technologies. cotf.edu. 1999-2010. November 7th, 20103. National Earth Science Teachers Association (NETSA). Windows to The Universe.

windows2universe.org. 2000-2010. November 7th, 20104. Colorado University of Colorado at Boulder. colorado.edu. 2010. November 16th,

2010Christine A. Ennis & Nancy H. Marcus. Biological Consequences of Global Climate

Change. 1996. November 19th, 20105. Phil Camill. Carbon Cycle Responses to Climate Warming. nyu.edu. 2010. November

17th, 20106. Kevin M. Dunn. Caveman Chemistry. cavemanchemistry.com. 2009. December 2nd,

2010Jeff Davis. Puffergas. puffergas.com. 2007. December 2nd, 2010

7. Basics of Climate Change: Greenhouse Gases. Climatechangenorth.ca. 2009-2010. December 4th, 2010

8. What is Photosynthesis?. www2.estrellamountain.edu. 1994-2007. December 5th, 2010